Optimism and Social Resilience: Social Isolation, Meaninglessness, Trust, and Empathy in Times of COVID-19

Abstract

Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of an existential threat, we conducted a nationwide survey in March 2020 asking 445 Americans about their hopes and fears, their opinions about the coronavirus pandemic, and their attitudes for getting through the public health crisis. In the present research, we examine the coronavirus pandemic as a complex problem and explore its effects on respondents’ levels of optimism to resolve the public health crisis. While much existing research examines the influence of risk perception on optimism, we specifically measure how respondents’ levels of empathy and trust affect social resilience and relate to hopes and fears for their personal health and public health in the United States. Specifically, we examine respondents’ levels of trust in government and their neighbors as well as their levels of empathy, alienation, and social isolation. Our research confirmed the importance of empathy to counter the spread of the virus while preventing economic collapse. In addition, we found that relational factors such as alienation and trust affect individuals’ levels of optimism or pessimism for getting through the public health crisis.

COVID‐19‐related anxiety: How do coping and optimism relate to substance use in African–American young adults?

“…It is reasonable to expect that the entering college freshmen are less confident about the future compared to the more advanced graduate students with graduation in sight. Also, more educated individuals tend to be more optimistic than those with less education (Franke & Elliott, 2021 ). Additionally, optimism serves as a protective factor and has been known to be associated with physical and mental health behaviors (Carver et al, 2010 ; Marin et al, 2019 ; Setia et al, 2021 ; Wray et al, 2013 ).…”

“…Similarly, males reported an average optimism score that was 33% lower than females and was nearly three times as likely to use illicit substances (Ansari et al, 2018 ). During the pandemic, however, males are more optimistic than females; as were participants with higher levels of education (Franke & Elliott, 2021 ).…”

The existential risk space of climate change

“…The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic in March 2020; scholars also referred to it as an “existential crisis” (Döring 2020 ; Ataguba and Ataguba 2020 ), an “existential risk” (Morens et al 2020 ) or “existential threat” (Ebi et al 2021a ; Franke and Elliott 2021 ), or a “serious threat to humanity” (Gupta 2020 ). Pandemics are, in fact, recognized among the existential risks ( GCR), as outlined above (Ord 2020 ).…”

Assessing the Effectiveness of Social and Political Innovations in the Development of Interaction between the Authorities and the Population during COVID-19: The Implication of Open Innovation

“…It is necessary to abandon it in favor of more flexible systems that take into account not only real but also potential risks and open social innovations. Modern researchers recognize the need for a synergistic paradigm, which is aimed at studying the nonlinear effects of communication [50,51].…”